LEBANON, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Adimab, LLC, a technology leader in the discovery of fully human antibodies, today announced the expansion of its existing research collaborations with Merck and Lilly.

“At Merck, we look at a lot of technologies and have been impressed with Adimab’s output in our previous collaboration,” said Deborah A. Law, vice president, Biologics Discovery, Merck Research Laboratories. “From a strategic perspective we wanted to maintain access to their technology.”

Adimab also announced the expansion of its existing research agreement with Lilly to include the discovery and optimization of multiple bispecific antibodies targeting molecular targets identified by Lilly.

Pursuant to these agreements with Merck, acting through a subsidiary, and Lilly, Adimab will receive upfront payments and is eligible to receive preclinical and clinical development milestone payments as well as royalties on product sales.

“We are always pleased when our existing partners choose to expand their relationship with us,” said Tillman Gerngross, Adimab’s CEO and co-founder. “The antibody discovery arena has become very competitive and nothing is more validating than existing partners coming back for broader access to our platform.”

“In addition to conventional discovery and optimization programs, we are seeing a lot of interest in our bispecific platform,” says Guy Van Meter, Vice President of Business Development at Adimab. “We continue to build on our leadership position in the antibody space, and I am pleased with the validation that these transactions provide for our bispecific antibody discovery and optimization capabilities.”

Over the past three years, Adimab has established collaborations with multiple leading pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, Roche, Novartis, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Genentech, Biogen Idec, Novo Nordisk, Gilead and Kyowa Hakko Kirin.